Tanarax the Minotaur

Costume Construction

After I knew how I was going to make the costume. I went on a
material search. I needed some foam, and some lining to put it on. I
wanted to have several different lengths of fur. Short (almost no fur),
medium, and long. The short was for most of the body, while the medium
was for the shoulders and head. The long was for the end of the tail and
anywhere else it would look good. I also wanted to have vinyl for the
hooves and horns. I found the medium and long fur, the vinyl, foam, and
lining. But, I couldn't find the short fur for the body.

So, I started working on the lining and foam. I needed to do this
first, so I can be sure the outer fur would fit it right. I made a shirt
and pants that fit rather snugly out of the lining material. It was a
white material that I found on the remnant rack and it didn't stretch very
well. But, it works fine. After I did that, I made paper patterns for
the shape of the muscles for the upper body. The legs were going to be
digitigrade legs, so I needed big pieces to make the false knee and heel.
After getting the inch foam cut out from the patterns, I sewed the foam to
the lining.

The next part I worked on was the hooves. They are made out of the
brown vinyl. I made the feet big enough
so I can walk normal. There is a piece of cardboard in the bottom of the
hooves to keep the shape of the bottom. I took some of the quarter inch
foam and made a lining for the hoof to keep the shape of the rest of the
hoof and so it can be flexible. At the top of the hooves I put a strip of
medium fur to hide the seams.

The hands/hooves are made out of vinyl too. They are three fingered
gloves. I had made three fingered gloves before, so I just modified them
to make them better. I got some black vinyl to make gloves out of also.
This helps hide the seams and where the hands can come off. I got some
red felt to make the symbol on the gloves.

It finally came to the time to find the short fur. I didn't want to
work on the head until I get the rest of the costume finished. I searched
and searched. I finally found some sueed like material. I made the shirt
like a regular oversided shirt. However, I cut out the areas where the
medium fur would go on the shoulders , and I cut the medium fur to fill in
those areas. It fit together nicely. The pants were completely short
fur. The hardest part for the pants was to fit them to the "bent" legs.
Next came the tail. It was a long piece of short fur with a tuff of long
fur at the tip.

With the body finished, I started working on the head. I tried
several patterns with paper first. I finally found a shape that would
work. I made the head out of the medium fur. It looked pretty good. I
then cut out a piece of short fur to make the nose. I sewed it on by
hand and cut holes for the nose. I had sunglasses lenses for the eyes, so
I needed some ventilation in the head. The nose was a great place. And I
can add a nose ring if I wanted to later. I positioned the sunglasses
lenses and cut out the eye holes. I just used thread and strapped the
lenses into place. Next, I made ears and horns and sewed them in place by
hand. Then I got some of the longer fur and made the eye brows.
I sewed a strip of medium fur around the neck of the shirt to fit under
the head.

The next step was the final touches. I made a loin cloth with belt
loops, pockets, and a hole for the tail. The belt was made out of the
same black
vinyl that the gloves were made out of. I made the belt buckle out of
felt and cardboard. I used velcro to fasten the belt. I bought a battle
ax to use also.